Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 3, 2015)
OPINION 6A T HE D AILY A STORIAN Founded in 1873 STEPHEN A. FORRESTER, Editor & Publisher LAURA SELLERS, Managing Editor BETTY SMITH, Advertising Manager CARL EARL, Systems Manager JOHN D. BRUIJN, Production Manager DEBRA BLOOM, Business Manager SAMANTHA MCLAREN, Circulation Manager Tribal initiative deserves support ,W¶VWLPHWRUHFRQVLGHU¿VKSDVVDJH DURXQG*UDQG&RXOHH I n late January Indian tribes from Washington and Idaho took an important preliminary step toward restoring salmon to thousands of square miles of habitat north of Grand Coulee Dam. Fish passage is one of those SHFXOLDU 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW LVVXHV that excites enormous passion here and blank stares in Washington, D.C. Within this esoteric subject, QR¿VKSDVVDJHFKDOOHQJHLVELJJHU than Grand Coulee — both literally and politically. Built during the depths of the Great Depression, Grand Coulee is civil and social engineering on the grandest of scales. Towering 550 feet, the advent of Grand Coulee marked a regional and national turning point. World War II transformed WKH 3DFL¿F 1RUWKZHVW¶V ODUJHO\ agrarian economy, and Grand Coulee was a pivotal engine of that transition. Originally conceived as a reclamation project — to increase irrigable agriculture in &HQWUDO :DVKLQJWRQ ² WKH GDP¶V construction gained an urgency as a power generator with the approach of World War II. President Franklin 5RRVHYHOW EHJDQ WKH GDP¶V construction in 1933 as Hitler came to power, two years before Congress would authorize the dam. It generated massive kilowatts IRU WKH UHJLRQ¶V QHZ VKLS\DUGV that were building vessels for the war, for aluminum plants that fed aircraft manufacturing and for a WRSVHFUHW XQQDPHG SURMHFW DW what would become the Hanford 1XFOHDU5HVHUYDWLRQ After all these years, the dam and reservoir continue irrigating a vast acreage of prime agricultural land, while producing electricity LQDPDQQHUWKDWGRHVQ¶WKDUPWKH atmosphere. However, salmon were never included in the calculus RI GDP FRVWV DQG EHQH¿WV$VNHG DW WKH WLPH DERXW ¿VK ODGGHUV WKH head of the U.S. Army Corps of (QJLQHHUVVDLG³,KDYHQ¶WWLPHWR SOD\QXUVHPDLGWRDEXQFKRI¿VK´ according to the &ROXPELD 5LYHU *LOOQHWWHU magazine. Thankfully, this attitude is a thing of the past. As the *LOOQHWWHU observed — with concurrence by tribal ¿VKHUPHQ ² WKH FDYDOLHU DWWLWXGH WRZDUG ¿VK SDVVDJH DW *UDQG Coulee “wiped out 40 percent of the entire Columbia River ¿VK VSDZQLQJ JURXQGV ,Q WKDW massacre, we forever lost the big -XQHµ+RJV¶FKLQRRNVDOPRQWKDW sometimes reached 80 pounds) and VRFNH\HUXQV´ 1RZ WULEHV DUH DVNLQJ WKH 1RUWKZHVW3RZHUDQG&RQVHUYDWLRQ &RXQFLOWRKHOS¿JXUHRXWZD\VWR restore salmon in the 100 river miles between Grand Coulee and the Canadian border. Salmon that make it to the border would obviously continue on — necessitating a UHWKLQN RI 86&DQDGD WUHDWLHV DQG &DQDGLDQ ¿VK UHVWRUDWLRQ VWUDWHJLHV ,W¶V DOVR XQFHUWDLQ ULJKW now whether salmon would still ¿QGKDELWDWWRWKHLUOLNLQJDERYHWKH dam. The ongoing restoration of the Elwha watershed on the Olympic Peninsula following dam removal provides room for optimism that salmon — once provided a way around Grand Coulee — would ¿QGZD\VWRVXFFHHG It is time we righted the injustice DQG DUURJDQFH RI VDOPRQUXQ GHVWUXFWLRQ,W¶VJRRGWKHWULEHVDUH leading this initiative. We should all get on board. THE DAILY ASTORIAN • TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015 Heroes among the bystanders and symbols of the human 7KLV \HDU ,¶P DIUDLG capacity for evil. something similar will hap In the coming months, SHQ :H¶OO KHDU ÀRZHU\ rhetoric about Auschwitz, ne of the great heroes the world will also com Armenia and World War of the 20th century was memorate the 100th anni ,, DQG WKHQ ZH¶OO JR RQ versary of the start of the Ar $XVFKZLW] SULVRQHU 1R menian genocide — which, shrugging at crimes against who volunteered to be there. humanity in Syria, Central despite the outrage of Turk African Republic, Sudan :LWROG 3LOHFNL DQ RI¿FHU LQ WKH LVKRI¿FLDOVDWWKHWHUPZDV and South Sudan, Myanmar of course, a genocide. There, 3ROLVKUHVLVWDQFHWRWKH1D]LUHJLPH and elsewhere. too, I feel a connection be Nicholas deliberately let himself be captured by Darfur symbolizes our cause my ancestors were Kristof the Germans in 1940 so that he could Armenian. ¿FNOHQHVV ,W KDV GLVDS JDWKHU LQIRUPDWLRQ DERXW +LWOHU¶V peared from headlines, and Then, in the summer, concentration camps. ZH¶OOREVHUYHWKHWKDQQLYHUVDU\RIWKH Sudan makes it almost impossible for Inside Auschwitz, he set up resis end of World War II — an occasion for journalists to get there, but Human tance cells — even as he almost died of recalling Japanese atrocities in China, Rights Watch reported a few days ago starvation, torture and disease. Korea, the Philippines and elsewhere. that the human rights situation in Sudan Then Pilecki helped build a radio All this is likely to fuel more debates fo actually deteriorated in 2014. transmitter, and, in 1942, he broadcast cused on the past. Should we honor Ar Indeed, the Sudanese regime is now to the outside world accounts of atroc menian genocide victims with a special engaging in mass atrocities not only in LWLHVLQVLGH$XVFKZLW]²DVWKH1D]LV day? Should Japan apologize for enslav 'DUIXUEXWDOVRLQWKH1XED0RXQWDLQV frantically searched the camp look LQJ³FRPIRUWZRPHQ´" DQG%OXH1LOHUHJLRQV6XGDQERPEHG ing for the transmitter. He But, to me, the lesson DQDLGKRVSLWDOLQ-DQXDU\LQWKH1XED ZRUNHGWRH[SRVHWKH1D]L of history is that the best Mountains, and the Belgian branch of gas chambers, brutal sex way to honor past victims Doctors Without Borders has just an 7KHEHVW ual experiments and sav of atrocities is to stand up nounced the closure of operations in ZD\WR age camp punishments, in to slaughter today. The Sudan because of government obstruc hopes that the world would most respectful way to tionism. KRQRU A decade ago, one of the most out act. honor Jewish, Armenian or spoken politicians on Darfur — harsh Finally, in April 1943, Rwandan victims of geno SDVW he escaped from Aus cide is not with a ceremony ly scolding President George W. Bush FKZLW] EXOOHWV À\LQJ DIWHU YLFWLPVRI or a day, but with efforts to for not doing more — was an Illinois him, and wrote an eyewit reduce mass atrocities cur senator, Barack Obama. Today, as pres DWURFLWLHV rently underway. ident of the United States, he is quiet. ness report laying out the horror of the extermina The U.S. Holocaust 7KH8QLWHG1DWLRQVIRUFHLQ'DUIXUKDV LVWRVWDQG Memorial Museum in been impotent. tion camps. He then cam Granted, humanitarian crises rarely paigned unsuccessfully for Washington is a shining XSWR an attack on Auschwitz. example of that approach, RIIHU JRRG SROLF\ FKRLFHV EXW WKHUH¶V Eventually, he was VODXJKWHU channeling outrage at past no need to embrace the worse option, brutally tortured and exe KRUURUVWRPLWLJDWHWRGD\¶V ZKLFKLVSDUDO\VLV:H¶YHVHHQLQ.RVR FXWHG²QRWE\WKH1D]LV WRGD\ — from Syria to Central vo, Sierra Leone, Kurdistan and, lately, but after the war, in 1947, African Republic. But, in Yazidi areas of Iraq and eastern Con by the Communists. They general, the world is typi go that outside efforts sometimes can WKHQ VXSSUHVVHG WKH VWRU\ RI 3LOHFNL¶V cally less galvanized by mass atrocities make a difference. 6RVXUHOHW¶VFRPPHPRUDWHWKHOLE KHURLVPIRUGHFDGHVDERRNDERXWKLV than paralyzed by them. work, 7KH $XVFKZLW] 9ROXQWHHU was Even during the Holocaust, despite eration of Auschwitz, the horror of the published in 2012). the heroism of Pilecki and others like Holocaust and the brutality of the Arme I was thinking of Pilecki last week Jan Karski, who tried desperately to nian genocide by trying to mitigate mass on the 70th anniversary of the libera shake sense into world leaders, no one atrocities today. The basic lesson of these WLRQ RI WKH$XVFKZLW]%LUNHQDX GHDWK was very interested in industrial slaugh episodes is not just that humans are capa camps. I had relatives killed in Aus ter. Over and over since then, world ble of astonishing evil, or that some indi FKZLW]WKH\ZHUH3ROHVVS\LQJRQWKH leaders have excelled at giving elo viduals like Witold Pilecki respond with 1D]LV IRU WKH UHVLVWDQFH DQG WKHVH TXHQW³QHYHUDJDLQ´VSHHFKHVEXWUDUHO\ mesmerizing heroism — but that, sadly, LW¶VMXVWWRRHDV\WRDFTXLHVFH camps are emblems of the Holocaust offered much beyond lip service. By NICHOLAS KRISTOF 1HZ<RUN7LPHV1HZV6HUYLFH O The lunacy of declining vaccines KDG ¿OHG SHUVRQDOEHOLHI sorts of ostensible threats exemptions from having and putative remedies — and the number of mer their kids vaccinated. FKDQWVZLOOLQJWRWUDI¿FLQ Why? Many of them few years back, an acerbic it. Look at Dr. Oz, a car buy into a discredit friend of mine who was a diothoracic surgeon now HG WKHRU\ WKDW WKHUH¶V D recent transplant to Los Angeles link between the MMR drawing millions of view told me that she itched to PXPSVPHDVOHVUXEHO ers daily as a television KRVW SHGGOLQJ ZHLJKWORVV write a satirical novel with the la) vaccine and autism. tricks. The %ULWLVK 0HGL- 7KH\¶UH HQFRXUDJHG E\ D following narrative: FDO -RXUQDO recently ana cadre of brash alarmists Frank A group of wealthy, educated who have gained attention lyzed dozens of his shows Bruni people in Santa Monica who by pushing that thinking. and determined that more GHOLEHUDWHO\ GLGQ¶W YDFFLQDWH WKHLU $QWLYDFFLQHSDQLFZDVWKH than half of the sugges WLRQVKHGROHGRXWGLGQ¶WKDYHVRXQG path that the actress Jenny McCarthy children subsequently take them on D ³SRRULVP´ WULS WR D GHYHORSLQJ traveled to innumerable appearances VFLHQWL¿FEDFNLQJ The Internet makes it easier for on prominent news and talk shows; country. she later demonstrated her singular SHRSOHWRGRWKHLURZQ³UHVHDUFK´DQG The goal is to make them wiser version of concern for good health can lead them to trustworthy and un and more sensitive to suffering in the by working as a pitchwoman for trustworthy sites in equal measure. world. While being sensitized, the HFLJDUHWWHV ³,WFDQEHGLI¿FXOWWRNQRZZKDW kids catch diseases that they could Other parents have separate or WREHOLHYH´VDLG.ULVWHQ)HHPVWHUD have been inoculated against. Some additional worries about vaccines, infectious diseases specialist at the of them die. which can indeed have side effects. &KLOGUHQ¶V+RVSLWDORI3KLODGHOSKLD $V D SORW LW ODFNV VXEWOHW\ DQG %XWWKH\¶UHZHLJKLQJWKDWGRZQVLGH “So many people can be an expert, FRPSDVVLRQ %XW DV D SDUDEOH LW¶V against what they deem to be a vir because there are platforms for so FU\VWDOFOHDU <RX FDQ EH VR SULYL tually nonexistent risk of exposure PDQ\YRLFHV´ OHJHG WKDW \RX¶UH XQGHUSULYLOHJHG to the diseases in question. And that Salmon noted that the sheer va so blessed with choices that you degree of risk depends entirely on riety and saturation of media today FKRRVH WR EH D IRRO VR ³LQIRUPHG´ a vast majority of children getting amplify crackpot hypotheses to a WKDW\RX¶UHPLVLQIRUPHG vaccines. If too many forgo them, point where they seem misleadingly Which brings us to Disneyland, ZHVXUUHQGHUZKDW¶VNQRZQDV³KHUG worthy of consideration. measles and the aston “People say things enough times, LPPXQLW\´DQGWKHULVN ishing fact that a scourge ULVHV 7KDW¶V SUHFLVHO\ WKHUH PXVW EH VRPH WUXWK WR LW´ KH :H¶UHEHVW ZKDWKHDOWKRI¿FLDOVVHH said. “Look at the proportion of peo once essentially elimi nated in this country is ple who question where our presi happening now. VHUYHGE\ back. In 2004, there were GHQWZDVERUQRUKLVUHOLJLRQ´ <RX¶YH SUREDEO\ YDFFLQDWLQJ just 37 reported cases And we in the traditional media heard or read about the of measles in the Unit GRQ¶WDOZD\VKHOSFRYHULQJWKHQHZV DOORIWKRVH ed States. In 2014, there LQ DQ RQRQHKDQG RQWKHRWKHU recent outbreak traced to the theme park. But were 644. And while hand fashion that sometimes gives WKHUH¶V D FKDQFH WKDW FKLOGUHQ none of those patients nearly equal time to people citing \RX¶UH XQDZDUH EH measles can kill. IDFWVDQGSHRSOHZHDYLQJ¿FWLRQ areed Zakaria scored a big it to President Obama on his ZKRFDQEH died, FDXVH LW KDVQ¶W UHFHLYHG ,¶P QRW HQWLUHO\ EDIÀHG E\ WKH Before vaccines for it interview on his Sunday show negotiations with Iran over nuclear nearly the coverage that, became widespread in fear of vaccines, which arises in part ± *36 RQ &11 =DNDULD¶V JXHVW weapons. say, Ebola did, even though some of 1963, millions of Americans were from a mistrust of drug companies was President Obama. One of the Boehner is acting like a world the dynamics at work here are scar infected annually, and 400 to 500 and a medical establishment that have made past mistakes. died each year. WRSLFVZDV9ODGLPLU3XWLQ¶VDWWHPSW leader, which he is not. He is the ier. this subject has been stud ,WVWDUWHGLQPLG'HFHPEHUDQGLV ³,GRQ¶WWKLQNLWVIDWDOLW\UDWHKDV to annex the Ukraine to Russia. SUHVLGLQJ RI¿FHU RI RQH EUDQFK now believed to be responsible for GHFUHDVHG´ VDLG 'DQLHO 6DOPRQ D ied But and studied and studied, and Obama noted that the era in of the legislative branch of more than 70 cases in seven states vaccine expert at the Johns Hopkins LW¶VDEXQGDQWO\FOHDUWKDWZH¶UHEHVW ZKLFK FRXQWLHV JDLQ LQÀXHQFH E\ government. And he is elected only and Mexico; 58 of those are in Cali Bloomberg School of Public Health. served by vaccinating all of those fornia, which of course is where the ³:H MXVW KDYHQ¶W KDG HQRXJK FDVHV children who can be, so that the ones annexing territory is long gone. But by one party of that branch. ZKRFDQ¶WEH²IRUPHGLFDOUHDVRQV park is — in Orange County, to be IRUVRPHRQHWRGLH´ he noted that Putin is also playing On the face of it, inviting a foreign PRUHVSHFL¿F An estimated 90 percent of un such as a compromised immune sys to a domestic audience. Among leader to speak to a joint session $V LW KDSSHQV WKHUH DUH DIÀXHQW vaccinated people who are exposed tem — are protected. Right now, Salmon said, only 5XVVLDQV 3XWLQ¶V VDEHU UDWWOLQJ of Congress without notifying the pockets of that county where the to the measles virus become infect two states, Mississippi and West Vir fraction of schoolchildren whose ed, and they themselves can be in gained him popularity at a time when White House is a very bad idea. SDUHQWVKDYHFLWHGD³SHUVRQDOEHOLHI´ fectious four days before they devel ginia, limit vaccine exemptions to his polling numbers had dipped. But the Republican majority of the to exempt them from vaccinations is op a telltale rash. VXFKFKLOGUHQ,IWKHDQWLYDFFLQDWLRQ All world leaders play to at least House is good at coming up with higher than the statewide average of %XWZKDW¶VLQSOD\LVPRUHWKDQRQH crowd grows, other states may have two audiences. That sometimes is bad ideas — like shutting down the SHUFHQW7KDW¶VDOVRWUXHRIVRPH DIÀLFWLRQ¶V UHVXUJHQFH 7KH VL]H DQG to move in that direction. 7KHUH¶VDEDODQFHWREHVWUXFNEH DIÀXHQWSRFNHWVRIWKH6DQ)UDQFLVFR VZD\ RI WKH DQWLYDFFLQH PRYHPHQW true of American politicians. federal government. and Los Angeles areas. UHÀHFW D FKLOOLQJ GLVUHJDUG IRU VFL tween personal freedom and public That duality is on display with By making such a destructive It used to be that unvaccinated HQFH²RUDWOHDVWDSLFNDQGFKRRVH VDIHW\DQG,¶PQRWDWDOOVXUHWKDWRXU +RXVH 6SHDNHU -RKQ %RHKQHU¶V gaffe, Speaker Boehner has children in America were clustered FDIHWHULDDSSURDFKWRLW²WKDW¶VDOVR current one is correct. We rightly govern what people LOOFRQVLGHUHG LQYLWDWLRQ WR ,VUDHOL mortgaged the credibility of the in impoverished neighborhoods; evident, for example, in many Amer QRZ WKH\¶UH RIWHQ FOXVWHUHG DPRQJ LFDQV¶ UHIXVDO WR UHFRJQL]H FOLPDWH FDQ DQG FDQ¶W GR ZLWK JXQV VHDW 3UHPLHU %HQMDPLQ 1HWDQ\DKX WR new House majority at a time when sophisticates in gilded ZIP codes FKDQJH:H¶UHDFXULRXVVSHFLHVDQG belts, drugs and so much more, all in address a joint session of Congress. the big question is whether it can where a certain strain of health fad sometimes a sad one, chasing knowl the interest not just of their welfare 1HWDQ\DKXLVSOD\LQJWRKLVKRPH govern or merely throw rocks at the dishness reigns. According to a story edge only to deny it, making progress EXW RI HYHU\ERG\¶V $UH ZH EHLQJ dangerously remiss when it comes audience, with an Israeli election :KLWH+RXVH$QGWKH1HWDQ\DKX in The Hollywood Reporter last year, RQO\WRWXUQDZD\IURPLWVEHQH¿WV the parents of 57 percent of the chil The movement underscores the to making them wear the necessary months away. He is happy to invitation calls into question Mr. dren at a Beverly Hills preschool and robust market for pure conjecture — armor against illnesses that belong in DEHW %RHKQHU¶V DWWHPSW WR VWLFN %RHKQHU¶VVWUDWHJLFLQWHOOLJHQFH of 68 percent at one in Santa Monica not just about vaccines, but about all history books? Leaders often play to two audiences 3OD\LQJIRUHLJQSROLF\6SHDNHU%RHKQHU ZDVWHVKLVGRPHVWLFRSSRUWXQLW\ F By FRANK BRUNI 1HZ<RUN7LPHV1HZV6HUYLFH A